Best Retirement Cities

Best retirement cities will mean different things for different folks. But most have common threads...

Depending on your health situation, you may want to be near a major hospital.

If you take good care of yourself this will be less important...and you will place more emphasis on recreational opportunities.

Before the guys race off to the trout streams of Montana...you need to be aware of the shopping requirements of your partner.

Being near Costco is muy importante to my bride as an example.

Different strokes for different folks... but remember when mom is not happy no one's happy.

Where we found it all...well almost all

For us we found that the Bend/Sunriver area of Central Oregon had all the following in a city of less than 100,000:

St Charles Hospital...we found world class doctors here...Why?...they want to live in a desirable place just like you do

Outdoor recreation...hiking , biking, fishing, golf, scenery...Bend has it all

A wonderful downtown area with fairs, restaurants, and shops

A Costco, Walmart, Whole Foods store

A very friendly and active populace

In all our travels we have never found so much of what we were looking for in a town that was not too big...we had had enough traffic thank you.

So why aren't we living there?

If Bend was perfect it would not be a city of around 75,000 people...every body would live there.

Folks it is cold in Central Oregon...I mean snow in May and September.

Our best retirement city is Surprise, Arizona

We found that being warm and playing golf in January was more important than all of Bend's attractions. We do not have the small town feel we were looking for as a suburb of Phoenix. But...

A plus for us is major sports teams, Cardinals, Suns, and Diamondbacks (they are supposed to be professionals).

Combine that with the International airport and we chose Arizona.

What is best for you?

When you chose from the best retirement cities you may give more weight to other factors. If you have 6 grandkids anywhere you may insist on being close to them...or far from them...the gate swings both ways.

Culture and cost of living are factors we did not discuss but are very important.

Conclusion

When choosing your best city to retire...first, relax and take your time. Make the journey in choosing your personal retirement haven a pleasant process.

Make a list of what is important to both of you, compare lists and then start your journey.